Fiona continues to surprise me; I brought her in from her turnout, she hasn't been ridden in about 11 days, and it was 38 degrees at the barn, so I was prepared for a potential rodeo when I got on her. However, she just walked away from the mounting block as nicely as you please, and was perfectly obedient (if a little quick) for the rest of the ride. Every time I get on her I have a great time; she's just hugely fun to ride, and I wonder why I ever hesitated on buying her.

The new saddle is awesome, by the way; it turned out to be about ten years newer than it looked in the pictures, and according to the fitter (who is an amazingly nice person) all it needs is a half-pad and it fits her just fine. It fits me pretty well too, at least so far; the knee blocks are deceptively small, but it's very secure, even granting that my knees stick out over the flaps (which they've done with every saddle I've ever ridden in...) The best part is that Fi doesn't fuss at all when I put it on her, and that County I was borrowing used to make her grumpy during saddling and at the mounting block. I'm very pleased to have lucked into something that fits us both.

Reason 1,977,043 that I love my life

#while setting up to watch Dracula Has Risen From The Grave"#

Duamuteffe: So it says here that it's about Dracula being annoyed that his castle has been exorcised by a priest so that he can't get back in and he goes after the guy's niece as revenge.
Owlvark: So it really should be called "Dracula Has Been Turfed Out Of His Castle."
Duamuteffe: "The Horror of Dracula's Landlord"
Owlvark: "Dracula And The Bailiffs"
Duamuteffe: "Dracula Has Lost His Security Deposit"
Owlvark: "Pay The Rent Of Dracula"
Duamuteffe: You win.

This is alarmingly accurate. Except I tuck my hair behind my ears.

Sitting here, listening to Bauhaus on my headphones while the Owlvark listens to Zero 7 on the good speakers (and it's kind of a head trip, let me tell you) and looking at all the amazing artists I follow on Tumblr. it's making me want to start drawing again; I was never very good (my talents seem to lean more towards 3D objects) but I enjoyed it, and I feel that with enough practice I might actually get to where I might want to share stuff with the world.

Of course, I could just bug the Owlvark to draw me stuff, too. Y'know, while I'm still practicing. :)

(Edited for capsfail- I'll get used to this flat keyboard someday...)

So I've been reading through the whole arc of Magnus: Robot Fighter, after being reminded of it through a completely random tumblr post. My Dad has a handful of the comics (as well as Doctor Solar: Man of the Atom and Turok, Son of Stone) and they're fun, but a lot goofier than I remember. I remember really liking them as a kid, because at the time I never considered the sheer ludicrousness of a man who defended humanity from evil robots with only the power of his fists. I mean, okay, humanity's fear of a machine uprising, humanity's fear of becoming too dependent on technology, I get that, and combating it with his own weapons rather than that of the machines, that makes sense. But shouldn't he be using his brains to outsmart them, rather then just approaching every situation with punching? Maybe even a bit of rudimentary tool use? As it stands, it basically goes with the thought that humanity isn't as smart as the machines, but we can sure as hell beat them up. It's sort of an odd moral.

Amazingly, I wasn't called in to work today! This will continue probably until the end of December, when the rest of the employees will start dropping like flies and I'll get called in to cover them and suddenly I'll be working six or seven days a week until Spring hits. If it wasn't such a crappy place to be in the winter I wouldn't mind, but the lack of any heating whatsoever can get a little grating at times. And the lack of a real bathroom. There's nothing like a portapotty in the middle of January with snow blowing in through the vents to bring home how interesting winter can be sometimes. And I'm generally a fan of winter.

Say what you like, but for my money, the Spirit of Jazz isn't half as disturbing as Mr. B Natural.

Science the candy-corn rat from Adventure Time is the cutest thing that has ever existed. I tried to upload a picture but the uploader crashed, I can only assume from cuteness overload.

I wish I'd taken "chance of showers" to mean "it's going to rain all bloody day while being 42 degrees out." I'd have worn a jacket to work that had a working zipper. Getting accidentally hosed with the sprayer by one of my coworkers definitely didn't help :/

Day two of insanity ended with an Otters game, which was great, although they lost 6-4, which was not great. Still, there were some very good plays, especially by Greg McKegg, who was always right where he was needed to assist or pass- a hell of a skill in a hockey game where players are being smacked into the boards all over the place.

After a completely insane day, I now find myself curled up on the couch with dinner, attempting to explain "John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith" to my British husband. I'd ask if the day could get more odd but I'm afraid it might actually do that.

Woken up before seven to a call to come in two days early, then told to wait until noon. Is anyone surprised?

So I started a Tumblr for the Half-Life stuff; a DA friend mentioned it and said it might be nice for people who don't have DA accounts but are still Half-Life fans. It'll also be a good place to post outtakes, commentary on the shoots, and whatnot. It's here at City 17 Blues and all further HL posts will be directed there.

see more It Made My Day

Outtake

I believe the headcrab zombie had just stepped in a batch of reeds and said "Screw your nature preserve!"

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It's not actually a nature preserve, don't worry :)

So we had a very busy weekend, with work, barn, visiting home, Half-Life photoshoots, visiting a wildlife sanctuary, and just generally being busy. It was all pretty awesome, as evinced below:









More pics on my Deviant page, as usual!

Yest another productive day so far; I had a lesson in the morning, which went splendidly, and now I'm building another Half-Life prop- or rather, I'm modifying a nearly done one into a more useful design. I'm waiting for a layer of paper mache to dry so I can start in on another, and another, but we're holding off priming it until tomorrow, as there are dozens of people in the backyard prepping for Kegs-N-Eggs, and I don't really want to explain what it is and why I'm painting it a half-dozen times. Plus, Downstairs has enough problems without having to explain to their various relatives that their renters are weirdos :)

The repair job I did on the cooler was well-received, and I found out it was in its destroyed state due to someone turning the horse wearing it out for some unknown reason. The rule of thumb is, if it doesn't have hind leg straps, it doesn't go outside, and for this exact reason. Still, it's now a workable item rather than destined for the scrap heap, so I'm pleased.

It's been a productive day so far; we got a new prop in the mail for the next Half-Life shoot (which is coming soon, I promise!) and I spent the afternoon sewing a cooler blanket back together for a friend of mine. Have I mentioned lately how much I love my sewing machine? Most modern machines would never be able to handle the load of several layers of heavy-duty nylon and fleece and webbing, because all they gear them with now is plastic and plastic is worthless for taking load. This is why I own a Husquvarna sewing machine from the 70s, which is geared in metal and nylon, in order to last next-door to forever. It has a low gear that gives you five times the power for a fifth of the speed, and will happily trundle through as many layers of anything that you can fit under the presser foot. Which is good, because the repairs to the cooler were extensive; we had caught most of Curse of Frankenstein last night and it was that kind of a job. I'm not sure what, precisely, the horse in question did to it, but it was ripped to shreds. Catastrophic spontaneous disrobing, I assume :) At any rate, it took me four hours to piece it back together, cut patches, pin the patches in place, sew the patches on, adjust the patches while sewing (fleece stretches, which means your measurements have to constantly be adjusted) sew the edges of the torn pieces down for cosmetic effect (although it's never going to look new again, let me tell you) reattach the surcingle (yes, it was *that* destroyed) and replace the catch on said surcingle, which involved picking the stitching out, removing the borked end, and putting a new one on. So yes, complicated job. The other blanket I have to fix will be a cake walk; it just needs a catch replaced, which ought to take about fifteen minutes. I'm saving it for tomorrow, though; it's a beautiful evening for a quick run out in the kayak.